Audio Playground was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

dance-pop band formed in August 2009 in Edmonton, Alberta. The band consists of producers Rubix and DSL and vocalist Anthony Gitto.Audio Playground collabore avec Flo Rida

Career

In 2009, the trio released their first single, "A Little Respect", produced in seven variations. They did the same in 2010 with "Shadows". These variations included

Pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

Dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded danc ...

, Electro,

UK hard house UK hard house or simply hard house is a style of electronic dance music that emerged in the early 1990s and is synonymous with its association to the Trade (nightclub), Trade club and the associated DJs there that created the style. It often fe ...

Latin music Latin music (Portuguese language, Portuguese and es, música latina) is a term used by the music industry as a catch-all category for various styles of music from Ibero-America (including Music of Spain, Spain and Portuguese music, Portugal) ...

, Hip hop music and

Urban contemporary music Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, hip hop, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban contem ...

. They also used various languages—mostly English, French and Spanish, to maximize the reach of their audience. "A Little Respect", a remake of the hit song by

Erasure Erasure () is an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1985, consisting of lead vocalist and songwriter Andy Bell with songwriter, producer and keyboardist Vince Clarke, previously known as co-founder of the band Depeche Mode and a membe ...

, was No 1 in Canada on the single sales chart for 7 weeks, trailed by songs from

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

, The

Black Eyed Peas Black Eyed Peas (also known as The Black Eyed Peas) is an American musical group consisting of rappers will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo (rapper), Taboo. The group's line-up during the height of their popularity in the 2000s featured Fergie (singer ...

and U2. In 2012, they opened a studio in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

and started collaborating with other acts, including

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. (born October 20, 1971), known professionally as Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg and briefly Snoop Lion), is an American rapper. His fame dates back to 1992 when he featured on Dr. Dre's debut solo single, " ...

in "Emergency" and "You Never Know (Could You Be Loved)". They also collaborated with

Kardinal Offishal Jason Drew Harrow (born May 11, 1976), better known by his stage name Kardinal Offishall (), is a Canadian rapper, record producer, DJ, and record executive. Often credited as Canada's " hip hop ambassador", he is regarded as one of the country ...

in "Famous". Both songs reached No. 10 on the ''U.S. Billboard Dance Chart''. Additional collaborations followed, including with

Wyclef Jean Nel Ust Wyclef Jean (; born October 17, 1969) is a Haitian rapper, musician, and actor. At the age of nine, Jean immigrated to the United States with his family. He first achieved fame as a member of the New Jersey hip hop group the Fugees, a ...

Kendrick Lamar Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper and songwriter. Known for his Progressive rap, progressive musical styles and Social consciousness, socially conscious songwriting, he is often considered one of the most infl ...

and

Flo Rida Tramar Lacel Dillard (born September 16, 1979), better known by his stage name Flo Rida (, ), is an American rapper and singer. His 2007 breakout single " Low" was number one for 10 weeks in the United States and broke the record for digital dow ...

.De gros noms pour Audio Playground - Le groupe montréalais a collaboré avec Flo Rida, Wyclef Jean et Snoop Dogg
In April 2013, the group signed a distribution agreement with Sony Music Canada. Their first release under that agreement was the multi-lingual hit single "You Never Know", their second collaboration with Snoop (now known as Snoop Lion) which peaked at #5 on the US Billboard dance chart and was a national radio hit in Canada, garnering over 11,000 BDS radio spins according to Nielsen Soundscan. The song pays homage to

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements o ...

's classic "

Could You Be Loved "Could You Be Loved" is a 1980 song by Jamaican reggae band Bob Marley and the Wailers. It was released as the first single from their twelfth and last album, ''Uprising'' (1980), and is also included on their greatest-hits album ''Legend'' (198 ...

" and was recorded in five languages: "On Ne Sait Jamais" (French), "Amame" (Spanish), "Mai Dire Mai" (Italian) and "Sagapo" (Greek). Their next hit, "Hands Up in the Air" hit #1 on the U.S. Billboard Dance chart in 2014. The French-language video of "Hands Up In The Air", featured Canadian gymnast Kelsey Titmarsh.

Discography

Singles

References

{{Authority control Canadian dance music groups Musical groups from Edmonton Musical groups established in 2009 2009 establishments in Alberta